Email Author Mike Rowell

2005 Stories by Mike Rowell

• Get Hustle

  published December 21, 2005

  Get Hustle is a darkly discordant Portland-based outfit that has put out a variety of recordings with various lineups in its nine years. On its... More >>

• Head Wound City

  published December 21, 2005

  A prime example of a drunken idea that turned out to be a good one, Head Wound City is a noise-rock supergroup of sorts, featuring two members... More >>

• Alvarius B

  published November 9, 2005

  Alvarius B is the solo pseudonym of Alan Bishop from the Sun City Girls, a band with one massive, sprawling discography. Bishop also co-runs the... More >>

• Jello Biafra With the Melvins

  published October 26, 2005

  When you combine former Dead Kennedys lead singer Jello Biafra with seminal sloth-rock monsters the Melvins, you get a) what the DKs might sound... More >>

• Zdrastvootie

  published October 12, 2005

  Zdrastvootie is a skronk-rock, avant-whatsit group out of Santa Cruz that revolves around the core trio of drummer Sean Adams and guitarists Scott... More >>

• Jazz cats the Dead Kenny G's stick it to everyone's favorite wuss; DMBQ drops a bluster-bomb on 12 Galaxies

  published October 5, 2005

  Kenny G is the most reviled composer in contemporary instrumental music. A bombastic performer who can barely play his soprano sax beyond a... More >>

• Various Artists

  published September 7, 2005

  This is the fourth anthology of '60s obscurities released by a couple of California residents under the rubric "Soft Sounds for Gentle People." As... More >>

• xbxrx

  published September 7, 2005

  Current Oakland residents by way of Mobile, Ala., the anonymous members of xbxrx are notorious for explosive, super-short sets that cross the line... More >>

• Hear This

  published August 17, 2005

  While performing with pianist/singer John Legend at this year's BET Awards, Stevie Wonder proclaimed Legend's hit "Ordinary People" his... More >>

• Going Postal

  published July 27, 2005

  Part comedy act, part psychodrama, the Zip Code Rapists were a volatile, often antagonistic duo who wreaked havoc on San Francisco's underground... More >>

• The Peppermints

  published July 27, 2005

  Some albums grow on you with repeated spins. This second full-length from San Diego's Peppermints probably isn't one of them. On first listen,... More >>

• Kevin Blechdom

  published July 20, 2005

  Kevin Blechdom was one-half of acclaimed local avant-odd duo Blectum From Blechdom; she relocated to Berlin two years ago after the band's... More >>

• Condor

  published July 20, 2005

  Local trio Condor doesn't mess around when it comes to churning out spasmodic robo-rock. On Do It Everywhere, drummer Wendy Farina,... More >>

• Hear This

  published July 6, 2005

  Have you worn out your copy of the Wedding Present's Bizarro? Do you still wonder why R.E.M. doesn't write songs like "Gardening at Night"... More >>

• Hear This

  published June 15, 2005

  Electrelane is an all-girl rock group, but it couldn't be more unlike the Donnas. Electrelane is a garage-y British band with post-punk... More >>

• Danny Cohen

  published June 8, 2005

  Tom Waits introduced Paradise, Calif.-based Danny Cohen to the Anti- label, and there's no denying the similarities between the two artists. But... More >>

• Accentuate the Negativ

  published May 25, 2005

  In its 25-year history, Bay Area- based musical collective Negativland has never shied from controversy. The band once perpetrated a successful... More >>

• Angels of Light

  published April 27, 2005

  The hazy, out-of-focus portraits gracing the cover packaging of the fourth studio CD from Angels of Light -- current project of former Swans... More >>

• Six Eye Columbia

  published March 30, 2005

  S.F.-based melancholic rock band Six Eye Columbia orbits around songwriter Josh Pollock, who's garnered quite a pedigree in recent years. A... More >>

• Hear This

  published February 23, 2005

  The Talking Heads in their heyday (from, say, "Psycho Killer" to "Once in a Lifetime") would have been exactly the sort of band to thrill the... More >>

• Virgin Prunes

  published February 2, 2005

  Spawned from an Irish artistic movement that also birthed some rock band called U2, Virgin Prunes were a brilliantly bonkers early-'80s outfit.... More >>